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American English minimal pairs

Minimal pairs: vest and west

/v/vs/w/

Hard for speakers of German, Polish, Russian and Dutch, who say W as V, and for speakers of Hindi and Mandarin, who often say V as W.

The difference. For /v/ the top teeth touch the bottom lip; for /w/ the lips round and the teeth stay out of the way.

Practice all pairs

10 word pairs

Say both words in each pair. If Tono colors one of them amber or red, that is the sound to work on.

Contrast sentences

Both sounds in one sentence: the real test of whether you can switch between them.

  1. He wore a vest on the west coast. Practice
  2. The wine comes from that vine. Practice
  3. The vet got wet in the rain. Practice
  4. They went through the air vent. Practice

How to practice minimal pairs

  1. Listen to both words in Tono first, one after the other, until you can hear the difference.
  2. Say the pair slowly and exaggerate the difference. Check that both words come back green.
  3. Say the contrast sentences at normal speed. That is where the mix-up usually comes back.

Step-by-step help with these sounds: How to pronounce V and W in English

More minimal pairs

Spanish minimal pairsFrench minimal pairsGerman minimal pairs